High School Heroics
by Sen-tsuki
Summary: In the end, they're still just a bunch of kids who dream to be heroes. Mistakes will be made and tears will be shed. It is a perilous journey ahead, but, together, they can make it through. Just a series of interconnected writings that may somehow lead to somewhere. Contains spoilers.
1. Izuku: My Hero Academia

[4/8] **Izuku** **Midoriya: My Hero Academia**

 **AN: I haven't been on FF for a couple of months but I've finally returned with a new story. That being said, I'd like to add that I haven't written fanfiction for quite a while so I may be a little rusty.**

 **I decided to make this fic for the soul purpose of giving more limelight to some of the side characters. This will include the teachers, pro heroes and students from the other classes.**

 **The story is, in fact, going to be canon divergent and _will_ contain spoilers. Most of the chapters will be introspective, short stories or drabbles. They're all going to be connected and I plan to lead them somewhere though.**

 **The numbers before the title are the dates I've uploaded/updated the chapter. Also I'd like to quickly mention this was inspired by an Assassination classroom fanfiction called Judecca. It's written by the user Adamant. You should check it out.**

* * *

When I was four I was told that I would grow up apart the sparse few who did not possess a quirk. All the heroes I had admired on TV had quirks. Not a single one didn't. So naturally, after hearing of such a fate, I was horrified. I would grow up as an ordinary, quirkless boy, defenseless and vulnerable in a society that functioned on quirks.

Back then I was told that I couldn't be a hero. I was too weak and frail. I was someone who needed to be protected.

But I wanted to prove them wrong—I _had_ to. So each day I trained longer, studied harder and did more than all my peers. After all, if I had put in enough effort, surely, I could become a hero. Right?

That however, wasn't the case when my mother hugged me on her knees, crying and repeating 'I'm sorry's. It wasn't the case when I asked if I could be just like All Might and was responded with only empty silence. It wasn't the case in Middle School where a classroom of students laughed at me for my dream.

So now it feels so surreal.

I was fed by society the idea that I could never possibly be a hero and that I would forever be one of society's burdens.

The sleeves of my uniform feel rough in my clenched hands. I feel like crying. The air is so hot and heavy. I want to peel my collar from my neck so all of my steaming anxiety can come billowing out.

All Might looks at my disbelief with something that could be indifference and heck, there's a part of me hoping it's indifference. I can't really tell though. I'm still not quite used to his 'true' form. His expressions are still hard to determine (the expressions of his hero form were also a hard one to work out but I eventually made do).

I'm still a bit weirded out by the whole fact that he's just so _bony_ and _frail_ in this form. It's just incredibly unlike the healthy and muscular superhero I've always seen on TV.

Tears are now beginning to well up in my eyes, and I can just see them smoothly glistening at the curve of my cheeks. My emotions stir within me, swirling so fast I begin to feel nauseous. They're confused, they're looking for direction.

My legs buckle and I fall onto my hands and knees. No. This just couldn't be true.

I tried so hard to become a hero but I was always told that my dreams were invalid. No matter how much I observed, how much I analysed, how much I tried, it was never enough. My dream was going to remain just as it was described as: a dream. Nothing more, nothing less.

"You can do it," I barely catch him say as a cool gust of wind plays at his blonde flair of hair. "You can become a hero"

Maybe there's regret in his voice, maybe this is some sort of joke, he probably doesn't mean it. Why would he mean it? He may be the number one hero but I am the number one reject. Ha ha ha—

From what little I can see of him, his face, despite me still struggling to read his expressions, is stone and firm. There isn't a flinch or the slightest change in it.

His words were sincere.

 _Why?_ I want to gasp out through all these tears. _Why would you say such words to the likes of someone like me?_

He's not apart of the voices that grasp onto me wherever I go. He's not apart of the 'you're worthless's or the 'you can't do it's or the 'I'm sorry's.

No. After all these long and painful years of discouragement and belittlement, someone finally told me, finally said...

I could do it. I could be a hero.

Despite all these tears, these humiliating tears that are the only thing I can ever successfully produce, I am happy. So utterly, completely happy. It's almost dizzying. And although I'm worthless and pathetic, I will continue to work hard for my dream. I will not fail All Might. I will not disappoint him. I will not disappoint the only person who believes in me.

Suddenly I feel like I can take on the world.

* * *

 **Leading up to Izuku's initial meeting with All Might, he's bound to have struggled immensely being quirkless in a society so heavily focused on quirks. I tried my best to convey that in this chapter but, hah, I'm not that excelled at writing. But practice makes perfect and that's what I'm doing. I guess.**


	2. Hanta: Daily Theatrics

[31/7] **Hanta Sero: Daily Theatrics**

* * *

Man, I hate hot days. It's because they make me sweat like crazy which then screws up my cellophane tape… but it's not in the way that you'd think. Moving on. Recently, the weather has been all crazy. Hot days here, cold days there. It's been a real hassle. Damn weather, stop being so indecisive.

Right now, I'd honestly kill for a quirk like Todoroki's. If it's freezing cold, he can just use his left side. If it's burning hot, time for the right. Free cooling and heating, sounds like a dream.

He, of course, wouldn't exploit his quirk in such a way. I probably wouldn't either. We're aspiring heroes after all and using your quirk for your own personal desire is an absolute no go.

But it's still flipping hot. Maybe Todoroki will at least spare me a few ice cubes for my drink because fanning myself with my hand is not working. Helping others is another part of a hero's job so maybe he won't deny me?

I'm walking towards him and… nope. Turn around. Walk away.

The guy is just too intimidating. I'll just work with someone else to come up with some strategy to keep cool in this heat. How about Mineta? He's pretty smart and my quirk is pretty nifty so I'm sure we can come up with something.

I catch the little guy hanging in the bushes. He looks really into whatever it is he's watching. Must be something good.

"Mineta," I greet.

Mineta doesn't give me any signs of recognition so I try again. "Mineta"

He slowly turns his head to me and the look he's giving me is close to something you'd see a dog with rabies make. The expression is both scary and disturbing so I awkwardly try to spot what Mineta was looking at before. Around the place he was so drawn to is the girls from our class. They're grouped up and are discussing something.

"Dude, can you read lips or something?" I briefly glance at him.

"Get down." He hurls himself onto me and the suddenness of that takes me down into the bush.

He's obviously trying to be discrete about something so I suppress a 'what the hell?' Because really, what the hell?

After we both recover from the ungracious fall, he wears a maniacal expression. "Yes, I can read lips"

Of course he'd be able to read lips. What did I expect? He'd stubbornly teach himself anything as long as it benefits his ability to pursue pretty girls.

We stay low in the bushes and keep our voices hushed.

"What're they saying?" I know it isn't right to pry into other people's business but whatever they're saying has Mineta enthralled and boy is it hard not to be curious.

He's half listening to me I'm pretty sure. "I dunno"

My brows knit. What?

"I mean, I think they were talking about keeping cool or something but then I saw sweat glistening on Momo's smooth skin and into—"

The mention of sweat makes me shudder. My poor cellophane tape.

"Dude, how the hell did you see that from all the way here?"

Mineta crawls into the bush. He rummages around before retrieving a pair of binoculars. "Thanks to these babies"

The pair look too expensive for something he could ever possibly afford. He picks up my disbelief that he got those pair legally.

"I asked Mei Hatsume from the support department if I could trial them." He rubs his hands together. "Knowing her, she's always open for people testing her inventions"

There's some sort of evil, comical aura emitting from him as he darkly laughs to himself. It's beginning to remind me of that blonde dude from class B. Both of them laugh so weirdly and at the stupidest things.

Yeah, Mineta's smart but he excels at the wrong things.

"It's hot today, don't you think," he says, finally leaving his creepy laughing fit.

This weird conversation that we were having had brought my mind away from the irritating weather but now that Mineta had mentioned it….

Boy, it is hot today.

"Yeah, that's the reason I came to you." My smile drops. "Was hoping we could come up with a good way to keep cool"

Mineta drums his fingers together. "Well, Sero, my friend, I do indeed have a plan"

I'm genuinely happy for that but I'm scared at the same time. I can tell by his tone that whatever he has in mind is either incredibly stupid or downright dirty.

"It's our day off, the girls are looking for a way to keep cool…" He turns to me once more. "Hanta Sero, I've got a mission for you"

* * *

Welp, maybe I'm not as bright as I hoped I'd be. Asking Mineta was a pretty stupid thing to do. His idea sounded great (it was something along the lines of 'beaches and bikinis') but no way in hell am I risking my life for that. Then again, no one would expect me to be the perverted type. We have Kaminari and Mineta for that. They excel at hiding the perverse natures of others.

Earlier I managed to escape from Mineta after he finished explaining his plan and lost it. It was probably just the heat getting to him that caused him to think he's some diabolical mastermind.

The afternoon is slowly sinking in so, instead of searching for some other method of cooling down, I decide to retreat to my dorm.

In the lounge room, most of the guys hang around with soft drinks and a ton of ice overflowing their drinks. I'm tempted to go get some for myself but I decide against it and head straight for my room.

I collapse on my bed. Today's attempts of keeping cool were extremely pointless. They may have made my condition worse. I did accumulate a lot of sweat after all. Now my tape is going to reek. Looks like I'm going to have a long afternoon of washing up.

But for now, I'm going to enjoy the dorm air conditioning with my trusty can of soda by my side.

The afternoon is good even without ice cubes or beach babes.

* * *

 **Despite Sero's character being described as 'loud and showy', I decided to write a little down time story for him. It's hot and icky and his tape is going to reek from all the sweat he's been accumulating so, to save his image, he's going to steer clear of most people. Well, not Mineta of course. No one can get any lower in dignity and reputation than Mineta.**


	3. Itsuka: Friends with a Nutjob

**[17/4] Itsuka Kendo: Friends with a Nutjob**

* * *

This morning Neito called in sick, which is odd considering that he rarely takes days off, and even when he does that's only when he's on the brink of death. Otherwise, he'd come to school delirious from illness. So I guess it's a good thing that he's staying home.

Anyway, if I were to take my guess for the sudden sickness, I'd place my bets on the French cuisine we had over the weekend. Yes, part of it was my fault for not constraining him, but it was really his own fault for his limited self-control. The idiot just kept on eating and eating so he really had it coming for him. But, I'll admit, his passion _is_ admirable.

At the end of the day, he managed to try half the menu, which is a pretty impressive feat in itself. Well, for his hobby, not our wallets.

Yui, Shiozaki and I sit at our usual spot in the cafeteria. It's relatively an isolated place, tucked in the corner, far from where the 1-A students usually sit—something which was, obviously, arranged by Neito—but still in the same scope as our year group. Today it's just the three of us, huddled around, eating in a foreign quiet. Our table is void of its usual bustle of chatter. That's because Neito isn't around devising the downfall of our 'superior' class and TetsuTetsu is busy on an errand at the moment.

Yui and Shiozaki aren't the chatty type and as for me, I think they prefer their silence. So it's pretty natural for there to be a lacklustre of conversation.

Still, I wouldn't mind some interaction, even if it was just small talk. But I know these two. They're listeners, not conversationalists.

"Itsuka," Yui says suddenly, eyes lifting from her bowl.

It's surprising for her out of all of us to strike a conversation, but I'm not going to discourage her by calling her out (I am almost a hundred percent certain that if Neito were here, he would). I'm genuinely curious as to what she has to say.

I'm a bit surprised that she'd be the one to strike up a conversation instead of me. So I'm curious to what it is she wants to say.

"Did you need something?" I respond.

She nods, and, like always, I can't tell what she's thinking. "I'd like to ask you something, actually. It may come across as prying so you don't have to reply if you are uncomfortable."

"Ask away." I reassure her with a smile.

She briefly returns with her own smile, which quickly drops when she speaks. "Why is it that you're so close to Monoma?"

I blink.

Now that was... blunt.

"I'm not implying that he's a bad person, at least not completely, or that your friendship is wrong. What I mean is that, while you're this candid and amiable figure, Monoma is, well, _Monoma_. You two are starkly different."

"Because he's special," my reply comes out automatically.

"Oh?" Yui intones, holding a steady face of indifference. "It never occurred to me that you saw him in—" she clears her throat "— _that_ way."

My face grows hot. Me, like Monoma? That never crossed my mind. He has always just been a good friend of mine. Obviously, by calling him 'special' was bound to lead to some sort of misunderstanding... but to call him special so easily? I should really watch what I say.

I wave my hands frantically, attempting to dismiss any misconceptions. "No, no. That's not what I meant."

"Then what was it that you meant?" Shiozaki, who's been intrigued by our conversation, asks. Or maybe she just wants to join in.

The heat slowly leaves my face as I shake my head. "I mean, I just worry about him the most."

"Why is that?" They're both looking at me now curiously.

That's the big question, isn't it? Why would anyone be concerned about Neito Monoma? From the outlook, he's insufferable. He's condescending and annoying and he regards people lowly. He's desperate and always striving to be above others. But that's only what you see at a glance, when you don't know him for who he is.

For me, my reason why I worry about that idiot so much is simple. It's just a bit difficult to put into words.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't just worry about him, I worry about everyone in the class as well. We're all going to be heroes someday and we're all going to have to put our lives on the line. Even now it's a pretty dangerous time for us.

It's just that, compared to the others, Neito, Neito is a bit of a nutjob. Some may think that there's something wrong with his head or he's just a really sad person—and their not entirely wrong. But he's been through a lot. He needs someone—everyone needs someone. And if no one will be there for him, I'll be there for him. I'll stay by his side.

After all, he's not just any nutjob, he's my nutjob.

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 **AN: It's been a while but I finally updated, yay! I've been in writer's block for a while now so this isn't that long. It's at least something, right? I've got a few chapters planned, but I'm kind of displeased with the previous to so I might rework those first.**


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